Doorway crossover for trackways



E. ;T. BENNINGTON' v n'qonwn CROSSOVER FOR TRAOKWAYS Filed Sent. 23, 1924 m f M Patented Aug. 18, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. I

EARL T. BENNINGTON, O'F CLEVELAND, OHIO. ASSIGNOR TO THE CLEVELAND CRANE 8c ENGINEERING COMPANY, OF WICKLIFFE, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

DOOBWAY CROSSOVER FOR TRACKWAYS.

Application filed September 23, 1924. Serial No. 739,306.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, EARL T. BENNINGTON,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and 5 State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Doorway Crossovers for Trackways, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to doorway crossovers for trackways and more particularly to operating connections between the door and the movable portion of the trackway for opening and closing" a gap in the trackway as the door is closed and opened so that the trackway is continuous through the doorway whenever the door is in open position and the gap is automatically opened upon a movement of the door toward closing position.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an operating connection between the door and the movable portion of the trackway which operates smoothly and noiselessly to shift the movable portion of the track to and from operative position.

A further object is to provide a connection for operating the movable portion of the track from the door which will not materially increase the power required to move the door and by means of which the movable portion of the trackway is shifted tooperative position during the latter portion of the opening of the movement of the door and to inoperative position during initial portion of the closing movement of the door.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention may be said tocomprise the device as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, hereinafter described and particularly set'forth in the appended claims, together with such variations and modifications thereof as will be apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention appertains.

Reference should be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification in which Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a doorway showing a trackway for overhead carriers extending through such doorway; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the door showing the counterweight and its connection to the door and to the movable portion of the trackway.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 shows a portion of the wall 1 in which the doorway 2 is located, the doorway 2 having a sliding door 3 associated therewith, the door 3 being suspended by hangers 4E provided with rollers 5 traveling upon the door supporting rail 6. An overhead trackway for carriers extends through the doorway 2 and this trackway has aligned fixed sections 7 and 8 which are suspended by means of hangers 9 and 10, a short gap being provided between the sections 7 and 8 at the doorway to permit opening and closing of the door 3. The gap between the fixed sections 7 and 8 of the trackway may be closed by means of a short section 11 which is hinged to the fixed track section 7. The hinge connection between the section 11 and the fixed section 7 consists of binge members 12 and 13 fixed to the adjacent ends of the two sections and connected above the contiguous ends of the sections by means of a horizontal pivot pin 14. The hinge connec tion between the sections 7 and 11 is such that the section 11 is movable from a position in alignment with the section 7 and bridging the gap between the section 7 and the section 8 to a substantially vertical position in which the gap between the sections 7 and 8 is clear for the passage of the door 3. The end of the fixed section 8 adjacent the gap is provided with upwardly projecting guide plates 15 which receive between them a latch plate 16 fixed to the free end of the hinged section 11 which rests upon the top of the trackrail 8 and supports the section 11 with its lower track flange in alignment with the lower track flanges of the sections 7 and 8.

As shown herein the door 3 is a horizon tally sliding fire door of the. type commonly employed for closing doorways connecting different portions of a building and such fire doors are commonly provided with counterweight actuators which act to move the doors toward closed position, the doors being held in open position by suitable latches or other retaining devices which often include a fusible link for automatically releasing the door in case of fire. The counterweight cable 17 is connected at one end to a bracket 18 adjacent the top of the door and extends over a pulley 19 mounted on a fiXed support adjacent the side of the doorway toward which the door moves in closing. The cable 17 extendsdownwardly from the sheave 19 around the running ture 24 to receive the cable.

sheave 20 which carries a counterweight 21 upwardly from the sheave 20 over a sheave 22 mounted on a fixed support adjacent the sheave 19, thence over a pivotally suspended sheave 23 and is connected at its end to the latch plate 16 of the hinged track section 11 which is provided with an aper- The counterweight connection for the door is the same as the counterweight connection ordinarily provided for fire doors except that the end of the counterweight cable opposite that connected to the door is connected to the track section 11 instead of to a fixed anchor. The counterweight 21 acting through the cable 17 exerts a pull upon the do r 3 tending to shift the door to closed position and a pull upon the pivoted section 11 of the trackway tending to hold said section in its inoperative position. In order to provide for actuation of the pivoted section 11 in proper timed relation to the opening and closing movement of the door, the cable 17 has a stop member 25 attached thereto between the running sheave 20 of the counterweight and the guide sheave 22. When the door is in closed position, the counterweight 21 is in its lowermost posit-ion and the track section 11 is held in its vertical inoperative position by the counterweight. hen the door is moved toward open position the slack of the cable 17 between the guide sheaves 19 and 22 is taken up elevating the counterweight 21 until the stop member 25 comes into engagement with the running sheave 20 whereupon further movement of the cable 17 through the counterweight sheave is prevented transferring the entire weight of the counterweight to the door, so that, upon further movement of the door toward open position, slack will be created in the cable 17 between the stop member 25 and the hinged track section 11, permitting the track section 11 to be gradually swung downward by gravity into its operative position. The stop member 25 is so positioned that the downward movement of, the track section 11 does not commence until the for ward edge of the door has been moved past the track section. During the initial closing movement of the door the weight 21. is held by the stop member 25 and the entire weight thereof is exerted upon the door. At the same time downward movement of the counterweight takes up the slack between the member 25 and the track section 11 and gradually lifts the track section 11 to vertical position clear of the door, the tr ck section 11 being held in its inoperative position by the counterweight 21 after the counterweight has been lowered below the stop member 25.

Having described my invention, I claim.

1. The combination of a trackway extending through a door opening and having a portion movable to open and close a gap in the trackway at said opening, a door for closing said opening, operating means connected to said door and movable portion of the trackway and means associated with said operating means for causing said movable portion to open and close the gap in the trackway as the door is closed and opened.

2. The combination of a trackway extending through a door opening and having a portion movable to open and close a gap in the trackway at said opening, a door movable through the gap in the trackway to open and close the door opening, operating means connected to said door and to said movable portion of the trackway, and means controlling the operation of said operating means to cause the movable portion of the trackway to be moved to gap closing posiion during the final opening movement of the door and to gap opening position during the initial closing movement of the door.

3. The combination of a trackway extending through a door opening and having a portion movable to open and close a gap in the trackway at the opening, a door movable through the gap in the trackway to open and close the door opening, a cable connected to the door and to said movable portion of the trackway, and means controlling the operation of the cable to cause the movable portion of the trackway to be shifted to gap opening position during the closing): movement of the door.

4. The combination of a trackway extending through a door opening and having a portion thereof movable to open and close a gap in the trackway at said opening, a door mounted for movement through the gap in the trackway to open and close the opening, a counterweight connected to said movable portion of the trackway and means controlled by the door in its movements for rendering the counterweight inoperative with respect to said movable portion of the trackway.

5. The combination of a trackway extending through a door opening, said trackwa having a portion movable tn open and close a gap in the trackway at said opening, said movable portion being movable in one direction by gravity, a door mounted for movement through the gap in the trackway t open and close the opening, a counterweight connected to the door and to said movable portion of the trackway and means controlled by the door in its movements for rendering the counterweight inoperative with respect t said movable portion of the trackway.

(i. The combination of a trackway extending through a door opening and having a portion thereof movable to open and close a gap in the trackway at said opening, a door mounted for movement through the gap in the trackway to open and close the opening, a cable connected at one end to the door and at its opposite end to the movable portion of the trackway, a counterweight having a running connection with said cable, and a stop member on the cable between said counterweight and movable portion of the trackway.

7. The combination of a trackway extending through a door opening, said trackway having aligned fixed portions with a gap between them and a vertically swinging section adapted to be swung upwardly from a position bridging the gap between said fixed portions of the trackway to open the gap between said fixed portions, a door mounted for movement through said gap to open and close the opening, a cable connected at one end to said door and at the opposite end to said swinging sections, guide sheaves for said cable, a counterweight having a running connection with said cable and so mounted thereon as to normally hold the door in closed position and said swinging track section in elevated position, and a stop member on the cable engageable with the counterweight as the door approaches open position to render the counterweight inoperative with respect to the track section, v 8. The combination of a trackway eXtending through a door opening and having a movable portion movable to open and close a gap in the trackway at said opening, a door for closing said opening, operating means connected to said movable portion of the trackway and controlled by the door in its opening and closing movements t open and close the gap in the trackway as the door is closed and opened.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto affix my signature.

EARL T. BENNINGTON. 

